Virus lures with hint of bootleg McVeigh video
If you get an offer to see a
video of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh’s execution, be careful. It probably
isn’t a video clip, just an old trick.
In an internet chat room Monday, hours after
McVeigh’s death, some participants went to a Web link to
see a bootleg video of the execution only to be duped into
downloading a malicious program that can allow a hacker to
take control of another computer.
Brad Chapman, a Brigham Young University computer
science student, said that by visiting a Web site at Internet
provider Concentric Networks, his computer downloaded
the program, known as SubSeven.
Chapman didn’t run the program, but instead analyzed
it and found out what it really does.
April Goostree, anti-virus manager at computer
security firm McAfee.com, said SubSeven is an old
program that is disguised as many things.
“It was just a matter of time before somebody would
attach McVeigh’s name to it,” Goostree said.
Goostree said almost any anti-virus program will detect
the program. Still, SubSeven and its variants are the most
common threat to home computers, according to
McAfee.com research.
The execution of McVeigh in Terre Haute, Ind., was
broadcast to a federal facility in Oklahoma City, where
victims of his bombing could watch. The FBI said there is
no indication that the signal was intercepted.
